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The donkey at the bottom of the well

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(@bright-opal)
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My mother often sends me texts she receives from friends about life and spirituality (religious).  She knows I don't always read them because they are sometimes very long and it's difficult for me, but today I did.  I liked the story about "The donkey at the bottom of the well".  Maybe you already know it.  This was translated from French to English.  I apologize in advance for the grammatical errors you might find.

"One day, a farmer's donkey fell into a well.  The animal moaned pitifully for hours, and the farmer wondered what to do. Finally, he decided that the animal was old and that the well had to disappear anyway it was not profitable for him to recover the donkey.  

He invited all his neighbours to come and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and started to bury the donkey in the well.  In the beginning, the donkey realized what was happening and began screaming terribly.  Then to everyone's amazement, it was silent.

A few shovels later, the farmer finally looked in the bottom of the well and was amazed at what he saw. With every shovel of earth that fell on him, the donkey was doing something amazing: It was shaking itself to remove the earth from its back and climbed on it.  

While the farmer's neighbours continued shovelling on the animal, it continued to shake itself and climbed on the dirt.  Soon, everyone was amazed that the donkey was out of the well and it began to trot!

Life will try to swallow us with all sorts of garbage.  The trick to get out of the hole is to shake ourselves to move forward.  All of our troubles are stepping stones that allows us to progress.  We can get out of the deepest wells by never stopping, never giving up.  Shake and go!

Here are 5 simple rules to never forget to be happy, especially in the darkest moments:  

  1. Free your heart from hatred  
  2. Free your mind of worries  
  3. Live your life simply
  4. Be generous
  5. Be patient…"

You may have read this story before, but I never have.  Those are simple rules we are all aware of, but sometimes we need to be reminded.  I also like humour, it helps release tension.  Believe it or not according to a medical journal, laughter releases "happy hormones" for social bonding. (See at the bottom for link to the article)

I will add another rule: whenever using google to translate from French to English, always review the translation! There was a funny thing when translating some of the rules to be happy.  If you want to laugh let me know!

Article:  "Laughter releases 'feel good hormones' to promote social bonding",  Medical News Today, by Honor Whiteman, published June 3rd 2017.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317756.php

 


   
Marley, Jeanne Mayell, Michele and 21 people reacted
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(@mas1581)
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Great post Bright Opal. 

One thing to further your message on the article you linked....

Laughter causes a release of the endorphin dopamine. Dopamine is, in layman terms, a pleasure receptor that is overactivated when taking certain drugs to obtain that "high" that everyone chases. It is also what causes addiction to those drugs. We can obtain that same biochemical addiction thru laughter but we never let ourselves get to that point. Maybe we should start. Can you imagine having an addiction to laughter? Nothing sounds more uplifting to me than just that. This is why laughter is contagious and you will laugh because someone else does when youre not really sure what you are laughing at. Even hearing laughter releases dopamine in the brain and you instantly want to keep that high going so you start laughing yourself. Imagine how happy people would be if they were approached by upset and turned their brain chemistry around with a simple laugh instead of letting that upset bring them down.


   
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(@michele-b)
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Awesome story,  Bright Opal! I loved it!


   
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(@bright-opal)
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I think this is why they say laughter is the best medicine!  I'm going to try to get high on it, get addicted to it!  


   
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(@laughing-pudding)
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A couple of decades ago, I had gotten myself into a pickle by incurring a boatload of debt.  I felt stuck and defeated.

It was summer, I was refreshing myself in a body of water (can't remember whether it was a pool or a lake), and I had the thought that I would dive to the bottom and hang out there like a living metaphor of "drowning in debt."  I wasn't suicidal, I just wanted to experience the idea.  I found that every time I dove to the bottom, I would eventually float to the surface.  It was nothing magical, just how things work when you're in the water and not flailing about.  Since I had undertaken this little exercise to experience "drowning in debt," I had to consider what occurred - that even my debt supported my life.

Based on that experience, I find it a useful exercise sometimes to try to view the thing that I feel is crushing me as something that is actually supporting me in some weird way.

(I did eventually climb out of that financial hole with a LOT of little changes - and a couple of big ones.)  


   
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(@michele-b)
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Wow, Laughing Pudding,  that's a great real life version of Bright Opals story.  We all have a donkey and the well side of ourselves and it always come out during the dark night if the soul.

Congratulations for your own risings, again and again. May it always be so.


   
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(@michele-b)
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And speaking of donkeys, bright jewels, and the good in everything, a bit of poetic wisdom always makes me chuckle in recognition of it all.

"Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."

(William Shakespeare, As You Like It)

 

 

 

 

 


   
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(@jeanne-mayell)
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Love love love this story. And not trying to be political but interesting that it was a donkey who they tried to bury.  Just saying.

Today’s Boston Globe has this 30 second video to give everyone a much needed lift.   

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mashable.com/article/stella-dog-jumps-in-leaf-pile.amp


   
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(@michele-b)
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HahaHahaha!

Stellaaaaaaaa!!!

Great laughter therapy ?


   
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(@mas1581)
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Where is this leaf pile? I wanna do that sooooooooooo bad!


   
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(@jeanne-mayell)
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Come to my house in about three weeks when all the leaves fall down.  That one is in Maine. 


   
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(@michele-b)
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Let's see, 19 of us online right now...how many spare guest rooms do you have??


   
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(@mas1581)
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Eveeyone here in Milwaukee sweeps their leaves in the street for pickup, which seemed really cool when we first moved here. Then we quickly realized that they also put scrap metal, branches, glass bottles, furniture,  old tires, and anything else they wanna hide and get taken for free in those piles and hide it with the leaves.


   
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